


Book One

by howglovely



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Trans Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 08:06:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17484341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howglovely/pseuds/howglovely
Summary: Alfonse, a young barely 18-year-old trans boy must defend the kingdom of which he is the crown prince, the kingdom of Askr, against powerful foes with the aid of his cheerful but naive sister, a dependable but money-oriented general, a mysterious and otherworldly legend, and many other heroes while battling his own personal battles.Basically, this is the canon of Fire Emblem Heroes, but from Alfonse’s perspective, changed a bit to fit my ideas, and with lots of extra scenes for backstory because why not.





	Book One

Alfonse sat alone in the Askran castle’s eastern library. Open in front of him was a book of the heroes of the far off lands of Ylisse and Valm.

 

_As of the year XXXX, the exalt of Ylisse is Emmeryn. The royal family consists, in descending order of age, of Emmeryn, Chrom, and Lissa. They are closely guarded by their trusted knights and close friends, Phila and Frederick._

 

The book then went on to describe each of the mentioned persons and many more individually, noting everything from a breakdown of their appearances to all significant relationships they held with others of their realm.

Alfonse looked over Chrom’s passage. He had read the book in completion several times before as a part of his studies, but he often returned to the prince’s passage for nothing more than pleasure reading. He was fascinated with the man. Chrom was a fair and noble prince that led a team of soldiers called the Shepherds; however, those soldiers were not just knights of the nobility but had backgrounds ranging from a simple farm boy to manaketes who had lived for thousands of years. He was kind to his people and, though he could be a bit impulsive at times, he always wanted what was best for his kingdom and his family. Chrom was the type of prince Alfonse dreamed to one day become.

As his eyes traced the final lines of the passage, Alfonse heard a soft knocking come from behind the closed door of his study room. He lifted his head and watched as the door was pushed open to reveal the smiling face of his younger sister, Sharena.

“Come have lunch with me,” she said. “You can’t stay cooped up in here all day.”

“I was tending to my studies,” Alfonse replied, shutting the book.

“You’re always tending to your studies. Y’know, you’re allowed to have fun sometimes too.” She stepped further into the room to get a better look at the book in her brother’s hands. “Is that the Ylissean book again?”

“It’s about the heroes of Ylisse  _a_ _nd_ Valm, but yes,” he said.

“Egads, Alfonse! I swear you must have read that thing cover-to-cover at least twenty times by now!” She picked up the book and flipped through the pages. “Why are you reading it again?”

Alfonse stood. “Pleasure reading actually.”

“No way.” Sharena looked up at her brother, disbelief evident in her expression. When he didn’t reply, she scoffed, “Really? _Pleasure reading_ ?” She handed the book back to him. “You’re ridiculous, you know. I can barely get through that stuff for my studies. I’d never image to read it for _pleasure._ ”

“I know,” he said with a chuckle.

“Let’s go get lunch,” she repeated her earlier proposition.

“Sure,” Alfonse accepted, pushing in his chair. “First though, I have to put this back-” He gestured to the book in his hands. “-and if you don’t mind, I’d like to pick up a book on XXth century Hoshido and Nohr. I’m a little fuzzy on the royal’s retainers.”

“You really are ridiculous.”

 

“Thank you, Mrs. Osouf. I’ll have it back by Monday.” Alfonse nodded to the librarian as he finished checking out his book.

“You know Alfonse, you can call me Theresa. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you,” the aging woman said, handing the boy his book.

Alfonse nodded again, this time with a small smile on his lips. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Mrs. Osouf said with a smile. “Now you run along. I don’t know how you expect to have this book back in three days if you spend all your time here with me,” she teased.

“Alfonse, hurry up! I’m hungry,” Sharena called from the library entrance.

“On my way,” Alfonse called back. “Thank you again.”

“You’ve always been such a polite boy. Now get out of here - shoo,” Ms. Osouf said, shooing him away with her hands.

“Have a good day, Mrs. Osouf.” Alfonse turned to see his sister staring at him.

“Took you long enough.”

“I told you I wanted to get the book,” he said, walking past her into the hallway.

“Yeah, I know,” she said, catching up with him. “I was kidding.”

“I know.”

“I _am_ hungry though.”

Alfonse glanced at his sister, a smile gracing his lips. “Well then, I think you should join me for some lunch.”

“Yeah,” she said. Then, after a moment of walking in silence, she said, “Wait a minute. I invited you to have lunch with me, not the other way around.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Alfonse picked up his pace and quickly ducked through a door to a small circular staircase.

“Get back here you!” he heard his sister call out from behind him. He began taking the stairs down two at a time as he heard the staircase door open again behind him. He always enjoyed his and Sharena’s games. They had many and almost all of them involved running around the castle, to the dismay of their parents, the castle staff, and pretty much everyone else who had ever walked the stone halls.

“You can’t catch me!” Alfonse called out as he picked up his pace yet again, now practically flying down the stairs. “5… 4… 3… 2… 1… now,” he muttered to himself, counting the doors, before coming to a harsh stop and throwing open a wooden door with the picture of a knife engraved into the handle. He rushed through and quickly shut it behind him. A dozen sets of eyes immediately shot to him, watching as he grabbed the handle to prevent Sharena from pulling open the door from the other side.

A moment later, all of the eyes but two had peeled themselves away from the scene. “Alfonse,” said a stern voice, “you and Sharena should best be stopping your silly little games. Or at least, please play them somewhere else.”

“Sorry, Ms. Hayworth,” Alfonse said, though clearly not sorry as he continued to hold tightly to the doorknob that threatened to turn in his sweaty hands.

“Let me in!” Sharena’s muffled voice echoed from the staircase.

“Never!” Alfonse playfully called to her through the door. After a moment, though, he released his grip on the knob and stepped further into the room to observe the scene before him. A dozen men and women were spread around the room, all of them but one intently cooking. The one not focused on the food set in front of her was a woman with lilac hair and steel grey eyes and she was staring directly at Alfonse.

“Ah-ha! I’ve got you now!” Sharena said as she yanked open the door and hurled herself at her brother, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

“Sorry for interrupting your cooking, Ms. Hayworth,” Alfonse said, nearly falling over from his sister’s weight.

“No, you’re not,” said Ms. Hayworth, shaking her head. “You’re never actually sorry.”

Alfonse chuckled nervously in response as Sharena released him. “Hi, Ms. Hayworth! Good to see you,” Sharena addressed the cook.

Ms. Hayworth’s expression softened to a small smile. “It’s good to see you, too, Sharena,” she said. “I’m almost done with your lunch. You can wait in the dining room until it’s done.”

“Thank you, Ms. Hayworth,” Sharena said, cheer in her voice. She was nearly bouncing as she made her way through the kitchen, towards the dining room and away from her brother.

“It’s my pleasure, princess”

“Yes, thank you,” Alfonse said, slowly starting to follow his sister.

“You’re welcome.” Ms. Hayworth returned to chopping the vegetables sat on a wooden cutting board in front of her. “And you as well, Alfonse,” she said after a moment of silence.

“I’m sorry?” Alfonse didn’t understand what she meant.

“It’s good to see you, too.” She looked up at him, a smile on her lips.

“It’s good to see you,” Alfonse said.

“You know I was just messing with you, right?” she inquired. “I mean, I would rather you didn’t play your games in the kitchen, but it is nice to see you children having fun.”

Alfonse paused and looked to the cook. “Y’know, I’m actually not a child anymore.”

“Oh yes, that’s right. You turned eighteen just last month, didn’t you? And Sharena, seventeen?”

He nodded in confirmation.

“You two have grown up to be such wonderful young adults. I’m sure your parents are very proud of you.”

“Yeah, I think so,” Alfonse replied, trying to believe his own words.

“Now you go on and wait with your sister in the dining room. I’ll bring your lunch up in a bit.” Ms. Hayworth turned back to her vegetables once again, this time focusing completely on her work.

“Thank you,” Alfonse said, not knowing whether or not she heard him, before continuing through the kitchen. He weaved his way around the counters and cooks until he got to a door at the other end of the room, this one more ornate with small swirling designs cut into the wood. He grabbed the knob but glanced back at Ms. Hayworth before turning it. “I hope they are,” he muttered to himself.

He was never sure if his parents were proud of him. He thought his mother might be, but he wasn’t as hopeful about his father. It seemed like no matter what he did or how much he accomplished, his father only ever tried to push him harder. The man said it was because Alfonse was the crown prince of Askr and had to be ready to take over the throne at a moment’s notice, but Alfonse wasn’t so sure. Secretly he thought that his father’s strict ways were some kind of punishment for him, a punishment for not being the person his father wanted him to be.

Without realizing it, Alfonse brought one of his hands to his chest as he pulled open the door. Though multiple layers of clothing lay between his hand and chest, he felt the soft tissue give way under the slight pressure, sending a pang of sadness and hurt through him.

He shoved his hand to his side and shook his head, trying to clear the feeling, then stepped through the doorway. He stepped into a small, rectangular room with tall ceilings. Several long tables were placed around the edges of the room, some of which held silver cutlery and clean porcelain plates. It was the Waiting Room, the room in which food was brought during feasts when the kitchen needed as much space as possible for food preparation but it was not yet time for the food to be served. Back when Sharena and Alfonse were kids, Sharena had tried hiding beneath one of the tables in a game of hide-and-seek. The lack of tablecloths meant Alfonse had found her almost immediately.

He passed through the room quickly and pushed open yet another door to reveal a large rectangular room with one very large rectangular table in the center. Sharena sat at the corner of the table closest to door Alfonse had entered through. She had turned her head to look at the sound of the door opening and smiled at her brother in greeting.

“What do you think Mother and Father are up to?” Alfonse asked as he took a seat opposite to her.

“Well, in her last letter Mom said that she and Dad were dealing with something that concerned the Parliamentary Cabinet or whatever it’s called. I think there was some uproar about something in the south or maybe they were deciding taxes. I don’t know.” Sharena shrugged. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right. That’s more than I knew, so thank you,” Alfonse told her. “I was mostly wondering if they’d be around anytime soon, but it doesn’t look like it.” He wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved.

“Yeah, they haven’t been around since our birthdays, right?” Sharena’s expression faded to sadness for a second before brightening again. “But maybe whatever it is they’re working on won’t take that long and they’ll be back before we know it.”

“Yeah, maybe so.”

“Speaking of letters, I’ve been writing one and I was wondering if there’s anything you’d like to add. Mom does like it when you update her on your life yourself.”

Alfonse looked down at his hand. “I just don’t know what I’d tell her,” he muttered. He looked up at his sister. “When are you going to send it? Can I have some time to think about what I’d like to add?”

Sharena smiled. “I was planning on sending it this evening, but I can definitely wait until tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” Alfonse smiled back at her. He looked at her, taking her in. Her long hair was tied together at the end with a section braided over her head like a headband; it was a lovely blonde color and faded to strawberry pink at the ends. Her casual clothes, a maroon shirt with intricate gold designs paired with tight black pants, were much more fashionable than his own, a dark blue button-up under a tan cardigan and black pants.

Alfonse appreciated and loved his sister more than she could ever know. She had always been there for him and supported him through everything he had gone through, all the sadness and stress and pain. She helped him to remember who he was in his darkest moments and helped him realize that he could be whoever he wanted to be instead of the person others thought or wanted him to be.

“What do you think Ms. Hayworth is making?” he asked, but before Sharena could answer, the large double doors at the opposite side of the room burst open and a woman with red hair clad in armor ran into the room.

“Anna?” Sharena stood, confused.

“Oh thank the gods, I’ve found you,” Anna said to herself before addressing the two. “There’s no time to waste. Go get your armor. We have to go now!”

“What is happening? Anna, talk to us,” Alfonse said, standing.

“It’s Embla. They’ve taken a World.”


End file.
